If you’re looking to kickstart your savings in 2026, consider taking on one of these money-saving challenges.
The challenges vary in intensity, starting with the simplest where you save just 1p on the first day, while the more ambitious ones could potentially help you accumulate nearly £7,000 by the end of the year.
You have the flexibility to choose how you want to save the money – whether it’s through creating a digital savings account or opting for the traditional method of collecting coins and cash in a jar.
One of the challenges, known as the £1 saving challenge, involves setting aside £1 every day. By following this, you could have £365 saved up by the end of the year. Alternatively, saving 50p a day would result in £182.50 saved by the end of the year.
For another challenge, you incrementally increase the amount you save by 1p each day. Starting with 1p on January 1, you would save 2p on January 2, 3p on January 3, and so on until December 31, where you would save £3.65.
By completing this challenge, you could amass a total of £667.95 by the end of the year. Even if you only continue until the end of June, you would still save £164.71.
To spice things up, you can try a challenge where you save £1 on Monday and incrementally increase the amount saved by £1 each day until Friday. This would result in saving £15 per week, totaling £780 over the year. If done every other week, you would still save £390 by the year’s end.
Another challenge involves increasing the amount saved by £1 each week. Starting with £1 in the first week of January and progressively saving more each week, by December’s final week, you would save £52. Completing this challenge could leave you with £1,378 saved. Even if done every other week, you would still have £351 saved by the end of the year.
For those looking for a tougher challenge, there’s one that includes weekends. Starting with saving £1 on Monday and incrementally increasing the amount saved by £1 each day, with an additional £6 saved on Saturday and £7 on Sunday, you could save £1,456 by the end of the year. Halving this challenge would still result in savings of £728.
Lastly, the most challenging option involves increasing the amount saved by £5 per week. This means saving £5 in the first week of January, £10 in the second week, £15 in the third week, and so on. If completed, this challenge could lead to savings of £6,890 by the end of the year. Halfway through the year, you would have already saved £1,755.
